Within minutes of the tornados that struck Moore, Okla., with deadly force on May 20, Red Dirt singer Bo Phillips knew he had to do something to help out.

Within a day, he had his answer — and soon, more than 100 musicians to help him out.

Phillips spearheaded the massive Red Dirt Rising, held June 9 in the Arbuckle Ballroom in Davis, Okla., and featuring 50 acts, including headliners The Great Divide.

“All the egos were checked at the door,” Phillips said. “Everybody wanted to help. Everybody was accommodating.”

Phillips — who’ll return to Midnight Rodeo, 4400 S. Georgia St., for a 10 p.m. Friday concert — said he has played in hundreds of benefits in his eight years as a professional musician, but organizing this one himself was a no-brainer.

“If not me, then who? If everybody waited for somebody else to do it, nothing would ever happen,” Phillips said. “It was the time to act. If we’d waited, people could miss out on a great thing.

“When a tornado hits an hour from your house, and people you know lose their houses, it smacks you right in the gut, and literally there’s absolutely no feeling that I could ever compare it to than something hitting that close to home,” he said.

Phillips crashed into the music business after leaving a job teaching high school agriculture for six years and a career track that would have led him to an administrator’s desk.

“I was actually interviewing to be the principal of a new school,” he said. “I was literally in a board meeting and the thought came across my mind: ‘Do I want to do this for the rest of my life?’

“I was a shoo-in for that position, but the day after I turned in my resignation.”

At that time, Phillips was mostly on the sidelines of the music business, jamming after working shifts as a bartender and a bouncer. It was only in the last year of his teaching career that he began playing weekend gigs, he said.

“The crowds expanded at such a pace that I saw that I could quit teaching and do music full time,” he said.

How to go

o What: The Bo Phillips Band

o When: 10 p.m. Friday

o Where: Midnight Rodeo, 4400 S. Georgia St.

o How much: $8 in advance, $10 day of show for ages 21 and older or $12 for ages 18 to 20